Teacher Teach Before Burning Out or Becoming&nbspEssay

Excerpt from Essay :

teacher teach before burning out or becoming stale?

This paper looks at the ideas of whether teachers should be made to go back into learning to gain a new license after a period of time, also looking at how their time can be best used with initiating new forms and methods into the classroom.

How long can a teacher teach before he becomes stale?

Every school system has a philosophy behind it, these are based on the views and values of those who are in position to educate, along with the society that is the main sponsor of the education. (Freire, 1998).

The philosophy begins with the view of reality and definitions of truth and goodness. There are five basic philosophies of education:

Perennialism is a very conservative and inflexible philosophy of education, based on the view that reality comes from fundamentally fixed truths-especially those relating to God. With a belief that people can find truth through reasoning and revelation and that goodness is found within rational thinking.

Idealism believes in a refined wisdom, based on the view that reality is a world within a person's mind. Therefore it believes that truth is in the consistency of ideas and that goodness is an ideal state to strive for attainment

Realism believes in the world as it is. It is based on the view that reality is what we observe. It believes that truth is what we sense and observe and that goodness is found in the order of the laws of nature.

Experimentalism believes that things are constantly changing, based on the view that reality is what you experience. Therefore, it believes that truth is what works right now and that goodness comes from group decisions.

Existentialism believes in the personal interpretation of the world, based on the view that the individual defines reality, truth and goodness. (Freire, 1998).

The best way it seems to educate is to bring forth a hybrid or combination of all the strong points from each discipline, for to rely upon only one form of discipline for education restricts the ability to change. (Freire, 1998).

The importance of education can not be underestimated. This is true no matter what the abilities of the pupil or the perception of the pupil by the teacher. There are many students which may have special needs these may be because of physical disabilities or due to mental processes resulting in a less talented child, a mentally disabled child or even a very gifted child, all require special attention in order for them to benefit from their education as much as possible. (Mueller and Dweck, 1998).

The idea of external influences on children is not new. There are many hypothesis that tell us we can influence a child's long-term development in both academic and social matters by the way w react and respond to them. (Mueller and Dweck, 1998).

When planning a class syllabus for today there are many factors to be taken into consideration so the plan becomes effective and efficient. To do this it must recognize that several aspects and variables of the task. The first part of the project must be to establish the aims and objectives of the course, and the available methods for achieving these aims. (Freire, 1970).

Necessarily this will include the course syllabus, however in most modern curriculum syllabuses there is usually room for interpretation and choice to be made in the way the teaching is undertaken. Several factors will influence this. The first must be a needs assessment. This will enable a tutor to ensure that the lesson content is matched to what is required by the syllabus and the pupils. (Freire, 1970).It is possible that the language is needed for a workplace environment where the most important skills will be verbal, either for general conversational skills, or in the ability to make presentations or giving speeches.

However, it is easy to look at these skills that a teacher may need and how the syllabus is approached for the Education system, especially the Federal Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs (DETYA), which is responsible for all national education policies, with the power to ensure that there is a consistent and standard of education that is maintained within all states of and territories Australia. (Anonymous,2001)

The system approved by the Federal Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs are based on self-discipline, with a learning on seeking out answers to questions by looking and also asking questions, children are encouraged in their own interests and given a greater enthusiasm for learning, this can be seen as slightly different to many other countries in the world where many children are taught the art of an outward discipline with memory work and learning by rote. (Anonymous,2001)

However it can be argued that even with such a system of teaching, teachers can be come stale and stuck in the old ways that they had learned when first gaining their teaching certificate, for example with the speed in which information technology is changing teachers should be kept up-to-date on new techniques with proper training courses and exams, perhaps a required limit of hours spent on training days or weeks should be initiated to allow for teachers to keep their certificates to teach.

Ideally the best solution would be for teachers to be granted a limited license to teach, perhaps five years for primary and seven years for secondary, then after this time they must return to the training school and relearn, in that way with the lessons they have gained through their time as a practising teacher and the new lessons they gain in the classroom after their allotted time they may become better teachers and understand new techniques to tech the pupil, for example teachers may learn that by the use of praise in order to help achieve any results which although can be seen as manipulative, it can also be in the child's interest in some occasions, other times it may be seen as less moral, according to the result that are desired (Kohn, 2000).

Further more the teacher may also learn to use a little imagination whilst on the course as well for the most valuable tool in introducing new skills at a range of levels is the manipulation of the group and discussion work, with regular and positive feedback. When receiving feedback the pupils are under going a type of constant evaluation. It must be expected that the type of class will be evident from the results, one on one teaching will normally produce results that are two sigma's above average group achievement (Anania, 1981 quoted in Senemoglu, 1995).

Therefore teachers can learn new skills and bring them into the classroom fresh from a year of re learning, for example when a teachers takes a class his main aspect in assessment is in many cases with the exception of the ongoing appraisal by the teacher the formal evaluation is decided by an external board, with little or no input form the teacher. (Klein, 2000).

Moreover if the teacher of the old school has the system in his mind to teach from the front of the class, mark books and give little feedback and help on preparation for exams the new renewed teacher can prepare student for their exams be more active in planning interesting hands on lessons and also should leave a revision lesson at the end, with also the chance for mock questions, and a demonstration, interactively with the students, of the ideal answers. Peer evaluation may also be used with regard the more verbal skills. With a clearer understanding of the exam or evaluation method the teacher is equipping the student to perform to their best ability.